Writing is a lot harder than reading. Acting like a journalist as I have in my little lawyer newsletter is one thing, but trying to write fiction is down right scary. I read a ton and I can be very critical of bad writing myself, so it is all too easy to imagine someone trying my story and not liking it at all. There is a sense of embarrassment in advance that people I know are going to read my made-up tale. I know what I would like to read, but I am not sure I can form the words in a way that even I would like. So, I apologize beforehand for what you are about to read. If it sucks, let me know quickly please.
I have read enough to know that every great story, like The Hobbit, seems to involve an ordinary character swept up into an extraordinary adventure that takes the protagonist from his usual environment and throws him into extraordinary danger, pitted against a scary arch-villain. I am a simple divorce lawyer and a political junky, so what could be more of an adventure for me to tell than an ordinary attorney finding himself representing the First Lady in a divorce against an unpopular and mentally deranged President of the United States? Is it really that farfetched to imagine a First Lady being so unhappy with her wacko President husband that she would consider a divorce to protect her children? The news today is crazier than almost any “what if” story in the bookstore, so why not imagine the first ever divorce in the White House?
This work of very speculative fiction (which is clearly not based on real people), will hopefully entertain but also educate about how divorce cases are really resolved in the courts of Harris County, Texas. I hate most lawyer movies or television shows because they always seem so unrealistic to me. I am in court almost every day and I know what really goes on. I also represent hundreds of people a year who find themselves in court cases fighting over divorce or child custody and I have been in their shoes myself. Whether you are rich or poor, the divorce experience is scary and painful. I may fail as a writer of fiction, but I am going to make sure this story is very accurate about how a divorce case, even one involving the rich and powerful, would be handled in Houston in 2017. I have made up the characters and I will only use real names of lawyers or judges or expert witnesses if they give me their permission.
With a high level of trepidation, I hope you enjoy this story and share your feedback with me. I hope for praise but I can handle your criticism as well.
Like the original Sherlock Holmes stories, which were serialized in The Strand magazine, this novel will be brought to you in many short installments. Your ideas for future plot twists will always be appreciated. Lawyers can suggest how they would represent such clients and anyone who has ever survived a divorce can share their ideas on what should happen next. I am actually consulting a few cooperative judges to see how such an incredibly high profile case would be handled and I thank them now for their help. I thank my in-house editors, Toni Herbes (my awesome and patient wife) and Anna Doyle.